Beyond the Pines
by glassbreaker
Summary: Gilbert likes to think of himself as awesome, funny, handsome, brave.. the list goes on. But... does he have what it takes to survive the Canadian wilderness? AU ! This story has been put on permanent hiatus. Sorry.
1. Chapter 1

Our story begins in an office in Germany.

Ludwig looked up from stacks of paper as a crash resounded throughout the building. He sighed, annoyed that his workflow had been interrupted. He paged his secretary, "Tell my brother I'll be down in a minute." Strange, Gilbert was earlier than usual. He packed up his briefcase and made sure his office was in order before heading downstairs.

"That was much longer than a minute," scowled Gilbert, sticking his tongue out. However his face brightened once they stepped outside, "Were going on a trip!"

Ludwig spluttered, "What! We can't go on a trip! There is no time; I have so much work to do-

"No buts," Gilbert interrupted, grinning with his crimson eyes. Ludwig sighed in defeat. Besides, his brother probably only wanted to visit Austria to bother their cousin,

"Where are we going," he deadpanned as he started the car.

"I knew you'd give in," cackled Gilbert, "were going camping. In Canada!"

Now, Ludwig was a sensible person. Sensible people do not just 'up and go' on vacation across the world.

"Canada is too far, bruder," Ludwig glared at the albino man beside him, although he knew this was a losing battle, "I have to be here for my work!"

"Don't worry about it west!" he grinned obnoxiously, "I already worked out all the details with your little secretary."

By now the two had arrived home and Gilbert ran in to pack. Ludwig followed suit, not before face palming.

From inside he could hear his brother yelling at him, "Feli's going to come with us! Kesesesese~"

This was going to be a long week.

- Meanwhile, on the other side of the World -

Madeline trudged home. It was raining heavily, and it was fair to say that she was angry. Not because of the rain, she loved the rain, but because of her brother, Alfred. Every year they'd arrange that he'd come up to Canada to go camping with her, it was tradition and she'd really been looking forward to it. She rarely got to see him anymore. Yet, this morning he texted her and said, "Sorry, I can't make it this year." She was so irritated; she hadn't even bothered to text him back. She knew she was overreacting but still. He could have at least called!

Of course she was still going to go, even without Alfred. It was one of her favourite campgrounds and she loved to get away from work and the city. Maybe it would be better, even, without Alfred being.. well… Alfred. He was loud, he damaged things (last year he set the tent on fire), and his hamburgers.. they always attracted wild animals, like bears and raccoons. She didn't mind but other people at the campground (Alfred included) seemed too. By that she meant they flipped shit. Madeline smiled at the memory.

Once all her camping gear was packed up, she grabbed a bagel and hopped into her old red truck. It would take her two days to drive where she was going from Ottawa, but it was cheaper than flying. She cranked up the stereo and smiled.

"I can't wait to smell the fresh air, eh Kumakichi?"

"Will there be fish," Kumajiro asked.

"Y-yes…" she replied.

"Okay." Her pet polar bear said.

Alfred and Kumawhatever were so similar sometimes…

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><p><strong>AN:** well hello readers. if you got this far, thank you! this is my first fan fiction so.. if any of you have constructive criticism i would love to hear it!


	2. Chapter 2

Feliciano dumped the contents of the tent bag onto the ground.

"Ve~" he added as an afterthought. He spread the tent out but when he saw the poles be became lost.

"Ludwig! Ludwig hellllp meee! The tent is confusing!" He knew that he often called Ludwig to help him with trivial things, but this was a serious matter. If they didn't have a tent they'd have nowhere to sleep. They'd be too tired to make pasta! This was worse than he'd originally thought…

"LUDWIG!"

Ludwig rushed over, "Ja, what is it. Did you see a bear?"

Feliciano's eyes opened wide, "there are bears here?"

"We're in the woods, what did you expect?"

"I was hoping for rabbits or squirrels…" he trailed off.

Ludwig blinked, "what did you call me for?"

"Oh!" his curl bobbed, "the tent poles confused me."

Ludwig resisted the urge to flatten the flyaway hair on his friend's head, "Alright, let me see."

He reached over and clicked the pieces together of the first pole and stuck it through the loops. Soon enough the tent was standing, pegged down with the fly to protect them from rain.

"Ludwig, you're you smart," Feliciano sighed, "it would've taken me hours to figure that out…"

"It's really no big deal, Feli, why don't you make us some pasta. You make it best," he blushed.

The shorter man brightened up right away, "I'll make tortellini! It'll be ready right away and then we'll eat! It will be delicious! Ve~ pasta."

He flipped open the lid of the first cooler.

"Eh? Ludwig, where is the pasta?"

"Other cooler Feli,"

"Ok!"

* * *

><p>His footsteps crinkled over twigs and dry pinecones as he made his way down the forest path. Other campers openly stared at him as he walked by, his white hair, his red eyes. He didn't even notice, being in his own little world of course. He laughed at two squirrels fighting over some type of nut, but then clutched his stomach and groaned. He was so full after eating Feliciano's pasta.<p>

Yet, he found himself being drawn to a new smell... Someone was cooking something delicious, but what? He let his nose lead the way. He rounded a band of trees and saw the source of the new found rumbles in his stomach. The girl cooking had two pigtails and was wearing a red oversized sweater with a big maple leaf on it. She seemed familiar, and she was pretty cute. He stared at her for a couple moments before the smell made him snap out of it. She was flipping the something in a pan.

"Hi,"

She jumped and he grinned.

"Sorry, er, didn't know someone was there," she said turning around, "do I know you from somewhere?"

"Um," he was _maybe_ slightly stunned by her brilliantly purple irises, "possibly…"

She grabbed his hand and shook it, "Madeline."

"Oh, uh, Gilbert. Say um," still staring at her eyes. She was probably feeling weirded out by him. Snap out of it Gil. "What's that you were cooking? I could smell it from the path."

"Oh!" she smiled, "Just pancakes."

"What's a pancake?"

She gasped, "Quick! Sit down."

He sat at her wooden picnic table and she plopped a round, perfectly golden pancake on a plate, drizzling some syrupy liquid on it.

"Maple syrup," she said at his look of bewildered curiosity.

He sniffed it, seemed trustworthy, cut off a piece and put it in his mouth.  
>His red eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he began to shovel in his pancakes.<p>

"Do you like it?" Madeline managed between laughs. She received an enthusiastic nod as an answer.

"Want some more?" He was already stuffed from earlier, but didn't hesitate for a second. He ended up eating most of the batch!

Don't worry, Madeline got some too. She was now studying Gilberts face while he polished off the last pancake. She couldn't recall where she knew him from but she was pretty sure she'd seen him before. I mean really, he's albino. A little hard to forget. Gilbert could feel his face heat up and hoped that she didn't notice.

A little white bear crawled out of her tent and he stared at it for a moment until, "MADDIE. BEAR. THERE IS A BEAR. What do we do? Sheiße!"

At this point, Madeline flicked his forehead to make him stop yelling and scooped up Kumajiro.

"Sorry Kumacheerio, but you'll have to go find something from the forest because Gil ate all of your pancakes."

Gilbert's breath caught in his throat. After the initial shock of a freaking polar bear coming out of nowhere (even if it was miniature) Madeline was being too cute. He began to cough violently and keeled over.

"Gilbert!" exclaimed Madeline, dropping her bear/pet/thing.

"Oof," said Kumajiro and then lumbered off.

He held up his hand, "Don't worry Maddie, I'm alright," he looked up and grinned at her.

"Thank goodness," she sat back in her seat and relaxed. Gilbert glanced at his watch. As much as he didn't want to leave, he knew he should go back to Ludwig and the little Italian before it got dark.

He stood, "I have to go back to my bruder,"

"Oh," she looked up at him, "alright."

"Would, uh, would you happen to have any plans for tomorrow?"

"No actually," she smiled at him. So cute.

He grinned and waved as he turned around, "See you tomorrow then, Maddie."

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><p><strong>AN: **Hurray for chapter two! You knew the pancakes were coming. What's camping without pancakes? Anywho.. Thanks for the reviews, I promise that I was giggling like an idiot while I read them! Hope you liked this one. I would love some thoughts or advice if you have :) As always thanks for taking the time to read my story!


	3. Chapter 3

Ludwig had been awake for hours. It was the sun and the birds, so he

didn't feel the need to complain. He had spent the time given relaxing and

reading while his brother and Feliciano slept. Now he found himself

cooking up some wurst for breakfast.

At this moment, the tent door unzipped and Feliciano stepped out in

only his boxers.

"Good morning Fel- put some clothes on for Gotts sake!" Feliciano was

shoved back into the tent and fell on top of Gilbert.

"Ow- what the fuck?"

"I forgot to get dressed before leaving the tent," Feliciano smiled,

"So Ludwig reminded me!"

Gilbert grumbled and wiggled away into a corner of the tent. Maybe he

could still get some sleep in. Was that a spider hanging above his face?

Gilberts eyes widened and he quickly flailed his body away from the

hairy beast, and careened into Feliciano, who had just stood up to

put his pants on. However this did not stop our favourite albino. He

crawled to the tent flap and almost broke the zipper yanking it to

get out.

"Ve? Gilbert what's wrong?" came Feliciano's (still naked) voice from

behind him.

Gilbert fell onto the ground and grabbed his younger brothers leg,

"Ludwig. There is a motherfucking spider in the tent. A big, ass,

mother fucking spider. Kill it. KILL IT,"

Ludwig looked down on his 'big' brother and raised his eyebrows. He

decided to ignore Gilbert on this one and finished cooking the

wurst, transferring them onto some camping plates on the picnic table.

"Some brother you are," moped Gilbert, still clinging to Ludwig's leg.

Feliciano crawled out of the tent for the second time that morning,

and the three sat to eat their breakfast.

"What do you want to do today, Ludwig?" Feliciano asked.

Gilbert coughed 'you' and chuckled. He was so freaking funny.

Ludwig disagreed and pushed him off the bench.

"Ow.." came gilberts annoyed tone from beneath the table.

Ludwig ignored him and answered, "I was thinking of going for a hike.

Apparently there's an amazing view of the lake."

"There's a lake?" Feliciano asked, "let's go swimming!"

So much for hiking.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm sorry it's been so long :( and that this is so short.. I will make it up to you!

... in a while


	4. Chapter 4

For once in her camping life, Madeline did not wake up with the sun. She slept in, most likely because she had talked to Gilbert for so long last night. He seemed like a nice guy to her. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere.

Madeline opened her bag and pulled out a pair of old jeans and a red plaid shirt. She put her hair up into her signature pigtails to keep it out of her face. Tying her boot strings and unzipping the tent, it looked like the start of a good day.

"Hey," Madeline jumped. It was Gilbert, sitting on one of her lawn chairs. Were they always going to meet like this?

Madeline raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Good morning."

Gilbert grinned brightly and Madeline laughed. This guy had no life.

"Hungry?" she asked.

Gilberts eyes widened comically, "really?"

"Yeah, but save some pancakes for Kumatango this time."

* * *

><p>Somewhere on the campsite, Kumajiro belched loudly and several nearby birds took to the skies. Gilbert wiped the remaining syrup from his face with a fancy cloth napkin.<p>

"Where did you get that from?"

"What?"

"The napkin."

"What, this?"

"No, the other cloth napkin embroidered with the little yellow birds."

"Brought it from home"

"Why?"

"Why not! Can't a man have his own napkins without being penalized anymore? Yeesh."

At that, Madeline burst out laughing.

"What!"

* * *

><p>Madeline looked up at the sun. It must have been about one o'clock. Still pretty early in the day. It was warm and her skin tingled from the sunshine. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Gilbert lazily sip lemonade through a straw. How long had he been there? It wasn't like she disliked his presence. Truth be told, she liked to have him around. Not a lot of people talked to her and she was quite shy, but Gilbert was easy to get along with. Sure, he was a little odd, like how he was waiting for her when she woke up. That was edging on creepy, but for some reason, she didn't mind.<p>

* * *

><p>Gilbert was perfectly content just sitting around with Madeline and drinking lemonade. There weren't many people around, and songs of birds accompanied by the soft wind through the trees seemed to put his cousin Roderich's piano playing to shame. Generally he simply couldn't sit still, but being with Maddie was so different.<p>

"Hey Gilbert," her voice brought him out of his summer thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Was there anything you wanted to do today?"

_Oh man I totally forgot! _

"Want to go swimming?"

"Yeah, sure."

Suddenly, he jumped up and started running in the direction of his campsite, "Last one there is a rotten egg, Birdie!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **helloooooo lovelies:) i really appreciate the feedback i've recieved, but if you have any suggestions or ideas let me hear them! thank you kindly~!


	5. Chapter 5

Ludwig was seriously worried about his brother. After the incident this morning he disappeared, then hours later he returned to change into his swim trunks acting as if the spider had never existed. He didn't even stop to annoy him. Gilbert had probably been challenged to a canoe war or something idiotic like that. However all thanks to said brother, Feliciano had remembered his initial(?) wish to go swimming, and that is how he found himself walking down the path to the lake with said Italian bouncing along beside him. At least it was a nice day, perhaps some good could come of this.

* * *

><p>Gilbert liked this lake. He liked how there weren't many people around, and how you could see little fish and colourful stones on the deep lake bottom. The tall mountains and pine trees were peaceful, and he was started to sound like a hippie. What the heck. The Great Awesome Gilbert is not a tree hugger! He likes loud music and partying! And yet he couldn't help it, sitting on the little wooden dock was really.. nice.<p>

_What's wrong with me_, thought Gilbert as his feet splashed in the chilly water.

* * *

><p>Madeline was starting to regret not bringing that bikini hidden somewhere in the depths of her closet. It's not like she wanted to impress Gilbert! Well, maybe a little bit.. No! She shouldn't get her hopes up. All the (<em>few<em>) relationships that she'd had before never lasted long.

_Am I too boring?_ she subconciensly played with the hem of her white sundress. She needed to stop being so dramatic, she was starting to sound like Alfred.

A small breeze felt nice in her hair. It was so hot, the chances that Gilbert wouldn't want to go swimming were slim. Speaking of Gilbert, she had just arrived at the beach and there he was, sitting at the end of the little dock. She put down her towel and started slowly creeping towards him.

He was being unusually quiet, but now she was directly behind him and held her breath. She reached forward and,

"Maddie, I know you're behind me!" and then Gilbert tasted lake water. Victory! Madeline laughed hard when Gilbert surfaced, "Think you're funny huh," he said glaring up at her while treading water.

"Yep!" She smiled as she pushed him back under. What she didn't expect was for him to grab her wrists and pull her down with him.

_ Splash!_

"Hey!" she clung to the ladder, "I'm still wearing my dress!"

"Too late now," Gilbert grinned as he grabbed her right leg.

"Gah!" our favourite Canadian yelped as her arms flailed, and she was back in the lake. She came up spluttering and glaring, but then grinned evilly as she splashed Gilbert straight in the face.

"Oh it is so on!"

* * *

><p>Ludwig and Feliciano arrived about fourteen minutes later. What! Feliciano gets distracted easily! Ludwig wiped his brow. Keeping an eye on Feliciano was so.. energy consuming.<p>

"Ve, is that Gil?" said Italian pointed out to the lake where Gilbert appeared to be getting completely drenched by some girl? He could see Gilbert dunking beneath the water. The girl put her hands on her hips and appeared to be waiting for him. With a roar, Gilbert jumped out of the water.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" he yelled, jumping on top of the girl pushing both of them underwater.

Ludwig cringed and resisted the urge to hit himself on the forehead. He sat beside Feliciano on a large towel and reached into their picnic basket for some water.

"They're so cute, ve," Feliciano smiled sweetly. Ludwig looked away to hide his blush. It was true, they were cute. Why did he always act so insensitive?

"Hey! Hey Ludwig!" he turned to his friend.

"Yes Feli,"

"Let's go swim with them!"

Ludwig smiled, it was a small smile but a smile none the less, "Alright Feli,"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Bonsoir, readers! I promise i'll update as soon as I can!


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey Birdie,"

Gilbert recieved a splash and a sweet, "Yes Gil?"

He wiped the water from his eyes and pointed past her, "There's my little brother, HEY LUDWIG!" Madeline turned around expecting to see a little boy, but instead was greeted by tall, blonde, oh god those muscles.. hey! She knew him!

She turned back to Gilbert, "Hey Gil, what's your last name?"

"What?"

"What I said, what's your last name?"

"Uh, Beilschmidt."

"I know your brother!"

Gilbert stared at her for a second as if she was crazy "How is that possible? We live in Germany, and as far as I know you're not German."

"We both work for our governments' international relations departments!"

He gave her a blank look.

"I'm still confused,"

Madeline seemed to be talking to herself, "This is why you look so familiar, you must've come on one of the trips with your brother,"

He snapped his fingers and splashed her, "Birdieeeee, don't ignoreee meeeee,"

"What? Oh, hey!" she smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head.

* * *

><p>"Want to see something cool?"<p>

After a good afternoon of splash wars and sand castle making, as well as general laziness, the heat of the day was beginning to subside. Madeline had eaten pasta at Gilbert's campsite, and was feeling content with the day. They only had about an hour before sunset, and despite the calm weather and peacefulness of the moment, she reallyfelt the need to go canoeing. With Gilbert. To a secret place that few people at this campground knew about. Maybe tonight she could work up the courage to tell him how she really felt about him..

* * *

><p>Neither spoke as the paddles pushed through calm waters. The birds were singing there final songs of the day while Madeline took Gilbert to an unknown destination. There were no people, no distracting noises of civilization. Omitting the occasional fish jump, it was as if the world were settling down to sleep, and for once, the tranquil beauty of nature did nothing for our dear canadian's nerves. All Madeline could do was try not to drop the paddle as she puzzled out the words to say to Gilbert. But, what was there to say? "Hey! I've only known you a couple days but uh I like you a lot" No. She'd just have to come up with something when they got there.<p>

The canoes came to rest on a pebbled beach. Madeline motioned for Gilbert to follow her into the trees. She could already hear the loud rumbling of the water fall. Walking around a bend her face lit up, here were the falls, tall, beautiful, dangerous. Gilbert looked upon them with incredible awe, Madeline with pride. Little rainbows flitted in the mist.

"Gilbert, I.." her voice trailed off. Now was her moment.

"Hm?" he smiled at her with that grin that she'd grown so accustomed to the past couple days.

"What do you think?"_ flopped it._

His eyes returned to the natural wonder, "they're awesome."

"Gil, I, well these past few days have been amazing and I, really like you," her thoughts came out quick and whispered.

"Sorry, what? Did you say something?"

"Eh? No, nothing," _shoot. He didn't hear me. sigh_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **hi guys... sorry for random hiatus! but also, don't expect fast updates haha ^^ but i know where this story is going, it's just a little slow moving~ thanks for continuing to read my story and i hope you'll forgive me and enjoy this short chappie!


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